Magical Interior Design Affects Your moodsenglish.fju.edu.tw/word/LOD/105/401110535.pdfinterior design affects people’s moods. The purpose of interviewing 5 persons in the area of

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, FU JEN CATHOLIC DEPARTMENT

Magical Interior Design Affects Your moods

Research Paper, English Composition III

Candice Chen

GRADUATION PROJECT 2016

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Nowadays, as people’s lives become more luxurious and more comfortable than

before, people start to care about the design and the decorations of their rooms or their

houses. Thus, people must design their rooms or buildings wisely because such

elements as color, texture, lighting, and room spaces will affect their moods. For

example, according to a survey done by Veitch and Gifford, natural day light indoors

can cause people to have better moods and the type of lighting in a room can change

them (455). Moreover, in the article “Emotion and Interior Space Design: An

Ergonomic Perspective,” Swathi Matta Reddy, Debkumar Chakrabarti and Sougata

Karmakar, mention that the choice of texture, forms, spaces, and lighting when

designing rooms are important elements which can affect people’s moods as well.

Therefore, it is important for people to know themselves well and carefully design

their rooms or buildings. Interior design affects people’s moods through the different

elements, including lighting, color, texture and room spaces.

This paper includes the following sections. First, the author discusses the

different sources in the literature review. Then, the author discusses the methodology

used to write this paper. Next, the author analyzes the data that she collected. Finally,

the author ends the paper with a conclusion and discusses the future research that can

be done on the topic, following the conclusion are works cited and appendices.

“Interior space is a fully colour-coordinated place based on other design

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elements including walls, floors, ceilings, furniture and other relevant accessories”

(Lee, and Lee 122). In the article “The Development of an Emotion Model Based” on

Colour Combinations,” the authors Young-Jin, Lee, and Lee Joohyeon try to develop

an emotion model based on the colour combinations popularly used for interior

coordination in Korea. Lee and Lee aver that human emotional response to colour can

be comparatively described in three categories: unconscious, semiconscious and

conscious. According to the article, in most research cases of ‘red-centred’ and

‘blue-centred’ types of colour combinations, emotions moved to ‘heavy and hard’

areas from ‘soft and light’ areas. That is, red and blue colors make people feel heavier

and develop negative moods. At the end of the article, the authors mention that they

hope the emotion model can be applied for practical use in different areas, such as

interior design and building design. Through the article, one can understand that color

is very important in rooms that can truly affect people’s moods.

Most people surveyed by Jennifer A. Veitch and Robert Gifford agree that

natural daylight indoors can cause them to have better moods and the type of lighting

in a room changes them. In the article “Assessing Beliefs about Lighting Effects on

Health, Performance, Mood, and Social Behavior,” Jennifer A. Veitch and Robert

Gifford emphasize on lighting because it is a clear choice for energy conservation and

because it is important for people at the office, at home and at school. Veitch and

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Gifford use 6 different questionnaires as measures to finish their study, including the

Lighting Beliefs Questionnaire (LBQ), the Lighting Knowledge Test, the Person

Surroundings Scale (PSS), the school/workplace portion of the Survey of Personal

Influence in Common Environments, the Free Will-Determinism Scale, and the Locus

of Control (LoC) Scale. Moreover, some people are suspicious that fluorescent

lighting can cause some temporary health problems, such as headaches and eyestrain.

The authors also claim their study demonstrates that people believe that lighting

influences their behaviors, moods and health. Therefore, they think cultivating

people’s knowledge of lighting will improve the way they choose lights and save

energy through lighting choices, both in their homes and in their workplaces.

According to the authors, “from both the perspective of encouraging energy efficient

choices and to understand risk perception of new, energy-efficient technologies, there

is a need to examine the beliefs and attitudes that will influence these choices”

(Veitch, and Gifford 448). The importance of lighting cannot be denied in interior

design.

According to Gary W. Evans, “human beings spend more than 90% of their lives

indoors, yet we know much more about ambient environmental conditions and health

than we do about the built environment and health” (536). In the article “The Built

Environment and Mental Health,” Evans claims that characteristics of the built

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environment can directly affect mental health. He also argues that people who live in

high-rise housing have more mental health problems and there is also a connection

between floor level and people having mental health problems. Moreover, the author

observes that poor-quality housing makes people lack security. Housing areas with

deck access make people have less ownership, and higher rates of depression. As for

psychiatric patients, those who live with themselves adjust quickly and engage in

society more. Furthermore, living in a house that is too crowded causes people to

become depressed easily. The author mentions that those who are exposed to shorter

hours of daylight suffer more sadness, fatigue, and, for some, clinical depression.

Personal control, social support and restoration are three mental processes which are

influenced by the built environment. Therefore, people must understand the link

between the built environment and mental health.

Addressing people’s emotions when designing rooms is the most important

element of all the physical, physiological, environmental and cognitive factors. In the

article “Emotion and Interior Space Design: An Ergonomic Perspective,” the authors

Swathi Matta Reddy, Debkumar Chakrabarti and Sougata Karmakar aver that people,

cultures and physical environments cannot be known separately but all should be

considered in unity. The authors try to determine the important factors that can satisfy

the emotional needs of people when they are in a good interior space. First, they claim

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that color can influence a lot in interior designing, and “no one can encounter it and

stay neutral” (Reddy, Chakrabarti, and Karmakar 1073). Next, the choice of texture

can also make people feel differently. Forms and empty spaces are essential in an

interior space. What’s more, good lighting makes people perform tasks easily, feel

safer, more comfortable and enjoy a physical space to its full potential. Noise also has

great influence on health, safety, productivity, comfort, and functionality. The authors

then mention that maintaining a comfortable indoor climate and proper temperature

and humidity is important. The article underscores the inter relevance of all the

elements of an interior space. According to the authors, “in this article focus has been

made on putting forth the need of an intervening domain of ergonomics which will

guide to bring out a balance between the personal choice of the user and the usual

standards followed.”

In the article “Cultivating Healthy Places And Communities: Evidenced-Based

Nature Contact Recommendations,” Erin Largo-Wight mentions that the conscious

use of nature contact to improve communities, workplaces, hospitals, schools, and

homes is an important component of healthy places. The author separates nature

contacts into outdoor and indoor contacts. The author avers that public health

promoters can cultivate healthy places through the purposeful use of nature by

cultivating viewing, maintaining healing gardens, incorporating green space in

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communities, and advocating for the protection and preservation of pristine

wilderness, welcoming animals and pets inside, providing a plethora of indoor potted

plants within view, lighting rooms with bright natural light, allowing outside air and

sounds to flood inside, displaying nature photography and realistic nature art

(Large-Wight 57). According to the article, “Healthy places and communities are

characterized by safety, availability of healthy options, mixed use design,

environmental sustainability and stewardship, and the opportunity for nature contact.”

Elements like lighting, sounds and spaces all relate to people’s moods.

Methods used in this research paper include two parts: analysis of several

articles written by professional scholars in the area of research, and interview of 5

persons to collect their ideas about the topic. The purpose of analyzing articles written

by scholars in this area is to understand what others think about this topic, and how

interior design affects people’s moods. The purpose of interviewing 5 persons in the

area of interior design is to understand what professional interior designers and

professors think about the relationship between interior design and people’s moods

and what their suggestions are for people to choose color, texture, lighting and room

space in their homes.

When it comes to color, color has the most powerful, affective, and the most

mysterious influence in interior design (Reddy, Chakrabarti and Karmakar 1073). The

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interviewee, Professor Chang said, “In general, light colors and medium colors can

make people feel relaxed.” Manager Lai considers that warm colors can make people

have good moods. However, Professor Lin believes emotions can be changed by color

in different seasons. In summer, people like cold colors like blue and green because

when encountering cold colors, people can feel colder. In winter, people like warm

colors like red and orange. Still, all of them think lighter colors have better effects on

making people relaxed in their homes than darker colors.

As for the textures, the interviewees consider people will be in good moods with

natural textures, such as woods. Smooth textures can also make people feel relaxed.

Professor Lin mentions that people may feel cold with high-tech and modern textures,

like metals, especially old people and children. The textures that are rougher and

coarser also make people feel heavier. When comparing stone with wood, all the

interviewees believe that wood causes people to feel more relaxed than stone.

Manager Lai says it is because of the feeling when people’s skin touches the texture.

Stone is colder while wood is more natural. The texture usage will also differ from

place to place because the climates in different places. Interior designer should help

clients find the most suitable textures for their homes.

Lighting is also an important element in interior design. “Natural light promotes

normal physiological functioning and regulation, maximization of visual performance,

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and mood enhancement. (Largo-Wight 51)” Two of the three interviewees also

believe that natural lighting causes people to feel more relaxed rather than artificial

lighting. However, Professor Chang thinks the way natural lighting comes into a

space is also crucial. When natural lighting enters a room directly, sometimes one

may not feel comfortable. If natural lighting enters smoothly into a space by refraction,

it will be better. Professor Lin says lighting needs to match with the furniture or the

texture. For example, it is better for natural lighting to match natural textures, such as

using woods to reflect natural lights. Sometimes it may be awkward to see natural

lighting light on artificial textures such as metals and plastics. Moreover, natural

lighting has its own variety. Natural lighting in the morning is different from that in

the evening. If one only talks about artificial lighting, yellow lights are better than

white lights to cause people to feel relaxed. Thus, yellow lights are used more in

homes and white lights are used in workplaces.

When it comes to room spaces, “contemplating scale, proportion, and breathing

space between furnishing and architecture is essential (Reddy, Chakrabarti and

Karmakar 1074).” Professor Chang regards width, length and height to be important

in a space. If the space’s length is very long, people will think that it is a moving

space and when people are in that space, they cannot calm down or be quiet. If the

space is very high, people can feel holy there, like in churches. Moreover, people feel

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comfortable with the wider space comparing to the crowded space.

Professors and professionals interviewed all consider users centered important.

Users-centered design means when the design designs the product, they need to

concern mostly about the uses. They need to think if the user like it or not and if the

product is suitable for the user or not. Professors think what the clients want is most

important and the room needs to fit the clients’ needs. People who live in rooms are

the users not the designer, so the rooms have to be designed to fulfill what the users

want. Everyone’s emotion is different from others and the color, light, texture and

room spaces that will cause one to feel light or heavy may differ as well. Therefore,

the elements of interior design used in a room can differ from person to person. What

an interior designer should do is to know his or her clients well and find the elements

of interior design to fit the clients, to make the clients feel relaxed and to be in good

moods when they are in particular rooms at home.

What’s more, the four elements, including color, lighting, texture and room

space, influence one another as well. One can use light color to balance a cold texture.

One can also use natural light to balance a cold atmosphere in a room. There is no

certain standard for the four elements to mix together. However, everything has to be

considered before designing a space.

If one wants to design his or her own home, the interviewees suggest that one

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can make a list about what he or she wants first, which kinds of elements he or she

thinks fit him or her well and what style he or she wants to live in. One can find

sources on the Net or from books for reference. One can also talk to professionals for

suggestions if one has enough money. Professional interior designers can use their

skills and knowledge to help their clients decorate or design their homes for comfort.

According to the interviews and textual analysis, color, texture, lighting and

room space all affect one’s mood in a room. Therefore, people must have a basic

knowledge of how the elements influence each other so that they can avoid suffering

from staying in terrible spaces where the materials don’t have any balance with each

other. However, it is also important for people to know that all elements in a room

may have influences on one another. One needs to have an overall consideration of

how they are going to design their rooms or what rooms they are going to live in.

Further research that can be done after this is to try to create a method for people

to determine what color, lighting, texture and room spaces fit them well before they

are going to design and decorate their rooms. The author considers that the method

may be very helpful for those who want to design their own rooms or homes but do

not know how to do this.

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Works Cited

Dodsworth, Simon. “The Human Interface.” The Fundamentals of Interior Design.

AVA Publishing, 2009. 104-141. Print.

Evans, Gary W. "The Built Environment and Mental Health." Journal of Urban

Health 80.4 (2003): 536-555. Web. 29 Dec. 2014.

Largo-Wight, Erin. "Cultivating Healthy Places And Communities: Evidenced-Based

Nature Contact Recommendations." International Journal Of Environmental

Health Research 21.1 (2011): 41-61. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Dec.

2014.

Reddy, Swathi Matta, Debkumar Chakrabarti, and Sougata Karmakar. "Emotion and

Interior Space Design: An Ergonomic Perspective." Work: A Journal of

Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation 41 (2012): 1072-1078. Print.

Veitch, Jennifer A., and Robert Gifford. "Assessing Beliefs About Lighting Effects on

Health, Performance, Mood, and Social Behavior." Environment and Behavior

28.4 (1996): 446-470. Web. 29 Dec. 2014.

Young-Jin, Lee, and Lee Joohyeon. "The Development Of An Emotion Model Based

On Colour Combinations." International Journal Of Consumer Studies 30.2

(2006): 122-136. Business Source Complete. Web. 29 Dec. 2014.

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Appendix A: Interview Questions

1. When you are designing a room, which aspects will you put emphasis on? Will

you consider people’s moods when designing?

2. Will different colors in rooms change people’s moods? What kind of colors can

make people feel relaxed or have good moods?

3. What kind of textures can make people feel relaxed?

4. Different lights will make people feel differently. Which kinds of lights will make

people feel relaxed? How about the differences between natural lighting and

artificial lighting?

5. Will the room space influence people’s moods? How can we control the room

space?

6. If someone wants to design his or her own room, do you have any suggestions?

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Appendix B: Transcripts of the Interview With Professor Chang

Q1. When you are designing a room, which aspects will you put emphasis on? Will


A1. The most important things in interior design are usefulness and beauty, which are

based on people’s moods. If one thinks the items he or she uses are beautiful, he or

she will be in a good mood. As for usefulness, when we are designing bars or some

business spaces, we hope that people will feel excited when they come in. Then, we

will use different colors and textures to fulfill people’s needs. When it comes to

homes, if the clients want a cozy place, the designers need to use materials to build

such an atmosphere.

Q2. What kind of colors can make people feel relaxed or have good moods?

A2. In general, light colors and medium colors can make people feel relaxed. We will

talk about a color’s value, chromaticity and hue. Consider red, orange, yellow, green,

blue, indigo and purple, which color will make people feel relaxed? Some people may

think it is blue, while some may feel it is green. It depends. However, some studies

show that there are certain colors that can make people feel more relaxed. On the

other hand, there are certain colors that cannot make people feel relaxed but excited,

such as red. Generally, green and blue can help people feel relaxed. Yellow makes

people feel more energetic, but it is uncertain. We are talking about hue, but light blue

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and dark blue cause differences as well. Three elements of colors need to be

considered. Lighter hues can make people’s mood lighter, while darker hues can make

people feel emotionally heavier.

Q3. What kind of textures can make people feel relaxed?

A3. Some textures are more rough and uneven, and people will feel that the space is

very close to you that will not make people relaxed. If the textures are softer and with

lighter colors, people will feel more relaxed. However, we cannot use it in every

situation.

Q4. Which kinds of textures are softer, or is every texture separated into softer ones

and harder ones?

A4. Take wallpapers for example, most wallpapers are smooth, but the patterns will

be different. Some patterns are more smooth, while some are harder, which will make

you feel differently. Rugs have different textures as well and it will be more different

when they are colored. There are kinds of stones. Some are rough and some are

smooth. There are also all different kinds of wood. The sycamore has clear lines.

Some wood has smooth and even lines.

Q5. Different lights will make people feel differently. Which kinds of lights will make

people feel relaxed? How about the differences between natural lighting and artificial

lighting?

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A5. Yellow light can make people feel easy. White lights are brighter and are suitable

for working spaces. The way natural lights enter a room will have different effects.

Therefore, it is not the difference between natural lighting and artificial lighting but

the difference between the ways that lighting enters a room. It will affect the room’s

atmosphere. For example, some natural lights come into rooms directly that may be

hot and harsh. Some lights may not come into rooms through windows; they first go

on to the wall and then scatter into the room. Thus, the room can brighten evenly.

Therefore, the way that the lights enter will make differences.

Q6. Will the room space influence people’s moods? How can we control the room

space?

A6. We can separate “space” in several aspects. First, the size of a space. We can use

a rectangle to see a space. It has three dimensions, including x, y and z. X is width and

Y is length. When we keep the height, in general, longitudinal space can make one

feel like moving, such as a hallway. If you are walking, you will not be quiet.

Therefore, x and y need to be considered. Next, it is the z dimension. The higher the

space, the wider you will feel. Many gothic churches are high because it can make

people feel majestic. Therefore, the x, y and z in a space influence people’s moods.

When z is low, one may feel oppressed. However, you will feel the low z cozy in your

bedroom. Thus, one needs to consider different situations, what the room is for and

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what atmosphere one wants. There is no specific answer. An American designer

called Frank Lloyd Wright likes to lower eaves to create a kind and quiet space, but

some may think this will cause them pressure. Moreover, the shape of the space is

also important. Some may be rectangular; some may be circular or like a pyramid.

Recently, curves and freestyle are trends. The changes of the shapes can also affect

people’s moods. A pyramid shape may make people more excited because it has some

angles. There are two kinds of circles. The first one is the internal focusing circle

when everything faces the center. The other is the circle that faces outwards with the

cooperation of windows and furniture. If windows surround a circular space and one

puts seats in the center, people will look out. Thus, this will be an observation deck.

Therefore, the shape and form of a space may influence people’s moods.

Q7. If someone wants to design his or her own room, do you have any suggestions?

A7. No. It depends on people. One needs to follow his or her thoughts. It also depends

on how big the space is, what kind of atmosphere one wants, what one will do in that

space and what living habits one has. One has to discuss with the designer different

aspects. Like I mentioned before, there are three goals of an interior designer. First,

the house he or she designs needs to be practical, stable and useful. Next is beauty. An

interior designer needs to make people who are going to live in the house feel the

house fit his or her standards of beauty. Therefore, we were discussing whether the

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form or the function is more important. Of course stability is the priority, which

means the house will not fall apart and the people who live there can be safe.

However, we must consider both function and form. While some designers consider

form the most important, some consider the function to be the most important. Every

designer uses different ways to design. The most important thing is what clients want.

One needs to consider the needs of the users. For example, what is the most important

thing in your daily life? Sleeping? This means the bedroom is important for you. Then,

how do you sleep? You need to have brighter light or dark ones? Therefore, what

people like their rooms to be like is different from person to person. Some may like

their bedrooms to face east because they feel good about seeing the sunlight as soon

as they wake up. Some families think they don’t need living rooms but they

emphasize dining rooms and kitchens because they like to cook and like to gather in

the kitchens or the dining rooms. Therefore, they have big dining rooms and kitchens

with large kitchen islands. Thus it depends. There is no standard. Some like lower

spaces for their warm feelings, while some like higher. Thus, an interior designer has

to know what his or her clients want and their daily needs. Also, they need to use the

elements we talked about to create a space that fits the clients the most. Certainly, the

elements can influence each other as well. An interior designer’s media are color,

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texture, room space and lighting. All of these elements are designers’ media to build

the spaces their clients want.

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Appendix C: Transcripts of the Interview With Professor Lin



A1. We need to know who the users are, what the users need no matter if this is a

dwelling, a restaurant or an office. The first thing is to know the users and then know

the usefulness. Then is designing. A good design is user centered.

Q2. What kind of colors can make people feel relaxed or have good moods?

A2. In summer, cool colors including blue, light gray and green can make people feel

cool. However, in winter, people feel comfortable with warm colors, such as orange,

red, purple. Different weather can affect people’s moods. Blue and green are cool in

the summer, while red and orange may cause people to feel anxious. Black, dark gray,

dark brown and dark blue are heavy. Colors have their weights. White is thinner while

black is heavier. Therefore, when we design, we can use more light colors and less

heavy colors, unless we are designing a pub.


A3. This is also different from person to person. In general, natural materials can

make people feel relaxed, such as clothes and leaves. If the main structure is

reinforced concrete and your decorations are metals, one will of course not feel

relaxed. However, although adults can accept this kind of design, it’s difficult for the

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elderly and children to accept its heavy feeling. High-tech and modern materials fit

offices better. Moreover, people who are working in companies will not want to go

home and face cold materials like they just faced in their offices all day long.

Nevertheless, if you want a modern feeling, you can use color to balance the cold

feeling of high-tech and modern materials. For example, using yellow lights can

balance the cold feelings of these materials. People usually use white lights in offices

with cold materials, which make the offices cooler. Thus, how textures affect people’s

moods depends on the place and the way they use the textures.

Q4. Comparing stone to wood, which one is better for people’s moods?

A4. Actually, we often use them together when designing a room because you will not

use only one material in a room. If you want to compare them as materials, stone is

heavier and harder than wood and wood is softer than stone. Therefore, you must use

more wood than stones unless you want a majestic feeling. Woods ensure a relaxed

atmosphere, compared to stones. When you are in a good mood, it does not matter.

However, when you are in a bad mood and look at metal materials, you will be more

moody. While you look at wood, you will be more relieved. That’s the reason why

natural style and pastoral style are trendy now to let people live comfortably.

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lighting?

A5. It depends on places and genders. For example, men prefer bright light when they

go shopping, while women prefer soft light. I did many psychology studies about how

spaces influence people’s moods and how people give spaces feedback. For instance,

when we go to the movie theater, we will be comfortable with the soft light. If the

movie theater has a bright light, we will be uncomfortable and it may hurt our eyes.

However, when people are at a meeting and the light is too dark, it will be unclear for

us to see things like documents and thus will influence our work and our moods.

Therefore, some companies have bright lights in the morning and have soft lights in

the evening to change employees’ emotions. Which kinds of lights we use depend on

what time it is and what we are doing. Artificial lights are fake, while natural lights

are soft. If we use natural light on natural material, it is better than using artificial

light. If your houses are decorated with natural decorations, it is good to let natural

lights come in through windows. However, artificial lights cannot produce this kind of

effect and are fake. Therefore, if you use natural decorations, you need to use sunlight.

If you use artificial and metal decorations, it is okay to use artificial lights. It is not

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good to use natural lights on metal decorations. For example, it is not good when

sunlight projects on iron but it is good when sunlight projects on wood.


space?

A6. Small space, large space, shopping space, living space and working space can

influence people’s moods. There is a concept called spirit of space, genius loci. For

example, you lived in a place when you were little. One day, after growing up, you

return to that place and you will have strong emotions and the memories. Therefore,

every place has its spirit, which is related to your memory and personality. Take

churches for example, you will be comfortable and relaxed there because it is a holy

atmosphere. Therefore, spaces must seriously influence people’s moods.


A7. First, you need to know what you want and write this down. For example, you

have to figure out the style you like. If you like pastoral style or natural style, you can

use big windows and plants in your rooms and have more green and brown in your

rooms to make it more comfortable. If you like the city more and like red and green,

the color in your room can be like red and green and match the lights. Therefore, you

need to analyze your personality and what you want first and search ideas on the

Internet to find the room you want.

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Appendix D: Transcripts of the Interview With Manager Lai



A1. I will emphasize on the location of beds, which side does the bed face and the

relationship between the windows’ locations and the bed’s location. For example, the

head of the bed cannot be next to the door because it will make people who sleep on

the bed uncomfortable and feel like there will be people running in the room. Next,

Chinese don’t like to sleep under windows so we cannot put beds under windows.

Chinese tend to have a back in the place where they rest and sit. The pathway cannot

be too narrow and the bed cannot be right next to the wardrobe because people will

feel stressed in this space. After considering these aspects, I will consider textures,

colors and lights because it depends on different users. What the users like is the

priority.

Q2. What kind of colors can make people feel relaxed or have a good mood?

A2. Warm colors can make people feel warm and relaxed. Asians don’t like to put

dark colors in their rooms. The areas of rooms are not big in Asia so we will use light

colors to make rooms appear more comfortable to people. Of course, in general,

people like to use warm colors as the main colors in their rooms. However, the rooms

in Western countries are bigger and the cultures are different. Sometimes, people in

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Western countries will use dark colors in their rooms. There are people who like cold

colors or cool colors as well. In general, people will feel relaxed with light and warm

colors.


A3. Some textures are more rough and uneven, and people will feel that the space

near them is more conspicuous. This will not make people feel relaxed. If the textures

are softer and with lighter colors, people will feel more relaxed. However, we cannot

use it on every situation.

Q4. Which kinds of textures are softer, or every texture is separated into softer one

and harder one?

A4. Natural textures can make people feel relaxed, such as woods and clothes. Walls

and floors are the big parts in rooms. First, people used to use paint on their walls and

used to use light and plain colors. The darker color in a room may be on the floor.

Wooden floors make people feel warm and it is comfortable when people touch it. It

is also easy to clean. Many people like to use tiles. They are easy to clean and they are

seldom damaged and the colors will not fade easily. However, the tiles are colder than

woods. Although now many tiles are made like wood, they are still cold when people

touch them. It will be uncomfortable in winter. Therefore, wooden textures can make

people feel warm and relaxed in every respect.

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lighting?

A5. Natural lights are the best. People will be happy in a room full-of-sunlight.

Therefore, we need to find lights that are close to sunlight. In general, people like

colors that are close to sun.


space?

A6. The bigger the space is, the less stress one may feel. If the room is not that big,

we need to use other elements like color, light and texture to make it look bigger. To

make space wide and bright is very important.


A7. One needs to pay attention to the location of the furniture and the relationships

between furniture to make them comfortable. There are many ways to decorate your

rooms like using curtains and paintings. One has to leave the space wide and bright

and decorate it with colors he or she likes and the things like a piece of art or

paintings.

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Appendix E: Transcripts of the Interview With Designer Lan


A1. Warm colors make people feel relaxed, such as brown, red and orange, but it

cannot be blood red or orange orange. If the whole room is decorated with red, people

will be manic-depressive. Therefore, you can use the color on a particular item but not

the whole room. Moreover, people like earth tones as well. Earth tones mean the

colors on the ground like green, brown or sky blue. People will be relaxed when they

go to the woods. They will see brown ground and some leaves are yellow. Therefore,

people are comfortable with warm colors like brown and yellow. However, some

people like cold colors. People will feel stressed with dark colors. Imagine you are in

a room that is all black. It must feel very heavy. Thus, if you want dark colors in your

room, you must decorate it with other colors. Don’t use all dark colors in a room.


A2. People may feel relaxed with woods. The feeling of wood is relaxing. Some may

think stone is cold and hard. However, in Japanese Zen style, wood and stone together

mean relaxation. Therefore, different people also like different textures. Some people

may like glass, while most people think glass is cold. Everyone likes different items

and materials. If they meet the thing or texture they like, they will feel relaxed. In

general, it is woods.

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lighting?

A3. People feel relaxed with natural lights. However, take a table for example, people

have small houses here so what we can do is to replace natural lights with artificial

lights. There are two kinds of artificial lights that are direct lights and indirect lights.

Indirect lights are those lights you cannot see where they come from and are not

harmful to people’s eyes, so people will feel relaxed with indirect lights. Take

spotlights for example. They are directly lit to people’s eyes so it is uncomfortable for

people to look at them. How to design the atmosphere is also important. We use less

lights in a space so there are darker parts in the space, which will cause people to feel

relaxed. The place that is too bright is a working place. You can use a spotlight in

darker spaces because spotlights are limited to a particular area. Therefore, other parts

of the room will be darker than those parts that have spotlights, so people can feel

relaxed in the room. People will feel relaxed when they stay in darker places. It is also

important to find a balance between the use of indirect lights and direct lights.


space?

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A4. In general, the wider the space is, the more relaxed people will feel. It is

important to make spaces wider from a visual aspect because people have small

houses in Taiwan. You can use mirrors or glass to make the spaces look wider and

people may feel relaxed there.


A5. First, you can find some photos that you like on the Internet because there are

photos of every style on the Internet. Designers can find the styles and elements you

like from photos. Maybe you like muji style or new classical style but you cannot tell.

Therefore, find the styles you like on the Net and then discuss the four elements with

the designers.

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Appendix F: Transcripts of the Interview With Designer Huang



A1. I will emphasize on storage. Although there are many things that need to be

collected, we need to make a room’s appearance look clean and beautiful to have a

good sleeping quality. If a room has many bureaus and wardrobes, it will affect

people’s sleeping quality. We need to do our best to make storage space look like

walls.


A2. Blue and green can make people feel relaxed. Lighter colors can also make

people feel easier, whereas darker colors make people feel stressed. However, darker

colors sometimes have a sense of stability.


A3. It depends on the colors used on the texture. Stones are not appropriate for the

bedrooms because they are heavier.



lighting?

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A4. Compared to artificial lights, people feel relaxed with natural lights. Therefore, it

is important to let natural lights come into a space and at the same time, this will not

make people feel uncomfortable. Use less artificial lights but using it in the necessary

ways. For example, we often put the ceiling light in the middle before or we put three

or four recessed lights on average in the ceiling. However, we want to put the lights in

wardrobes or the front or the back of the bed. We try to put less lights in the ceiling to

make people have a better sleeping quality because when people sleep they face the

ceiling. Moreover, the lights lighting on the curtain can make the curtain look more

beautiful.


space?

A5. It is not good when the room space is too big or too small. The room space

depends on how you separate the bigger space. For example, when you design a home,

how many places you are going to use as the living room and how many for the

bedroom. If the room space is too big, people will feel insecure in that place. If the

room space is too small, it will feel too crowded. Therefore, we need to find a balance

between rooms.


A6. You need to know the purpose of designing your house. Is it because you have no

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place for storage or because you think your room is too empty that you want to

decorate it with more things? Think about the purpose first then design your room.

Documents

Magical Interior Design Affects Your moodsenglish.fju.edu.tw/word/LOD/105/401110535.pdfinterior design affects people’s moods. The purpose of interviewing 5 persons in the area of